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I recently got accepted to Tepper, and I am very excited. I love their emphasis on quantitative analysis, the small class sizes, and the location. At the same time, I am a bit reticent to accept due to the program cost and my background.

I finished undergrad with a degree in economics, but then went on to do two years with Teach for America. After finishing this program, I was unable to find a traditional business job. I have been stuck working for a non-profit since then. It's not that the work is bad, as I am definitely doing some things that are helping others. It's more that I love working with numbers and I love challenges, and neither of these are particularly present in my line of work.

I want to transition into a position in consulting, and I want to make sure my background won't hold me back (what will recruiters say when they see my resume?) and Tepper can get me there. Due to my work background, I do not really have much in the way of savings and I would have to take out loans to pay for most of my living expenses and tuition.

I suppose I am just looking for some insight into how my background would affect my ability to get an internship and a job after graduating. Thanks in advance for any help!

Teach for America will look great on your resume and non-profit is nothing to sneeze at.

I think if you prepare well for the case interview and focus your time you shouldn't have any problem getting into a consulting job post-MBA. The top consulting firms may be tougher to get into, but CM will prepare you well to compete.

Besides, most people go back to b-school because they're not happy with where they're at and their previous experience is unrelated to where they want to be. An MBA from a great school is how you overcome that obstacle. I think most of us are in the same position as you. _________________

read this. i know it is satire and that you are not exactly a poet, but it shows that the move is possible (and it's really funny). there is no question that you will be at a disadvantage relative to people that have more relevant experience, but you should be able to overcome this by doing well at Tepper. you could also do yourself a favor by trying to get a pre-MBA internship in consulting. also, you might start going over some cases in your spare time so that you can get into a consulting mindset and really hit the ground running once you start school. part of your success will depend on the economy during recruiting, but you can't control that.

Thanks for the replies and the article. It was a good read. I am just a bit worried how recruiters will view a resume that does not have any traditional business experience. I suppose a lot will depend on my ability to get a solid internship that will initiate me as a member of the tribe.

My background is nonprofit: a year of AmeriCorps*VISTA and then five years at a community development credit union.

Recruiters have liked my resume. I've gotten lots of GM recruiting emails, but also a bit of consulting. One of the top firms that is known for liking people with quirky backgrounds recruited me pretty hard. And after doing ZERO networking with another, I threw in my resume at the last second and got on their closed list.

My perception is that people at non-profits get to do more "big-picture" stuff earlier on in their careers, and this is a good reason why they're marketable as MBAs. Is this true at all?

aaudetat wrote:

My background is nonprofit: a year of AmeriCorps*VISTA and then five years at a community development credit union.

Recruiters have liked my resume. I've gotten lots of GM recruiting emails, but also a bit of consulting. One of the top firms that is known for liking people with quirky backgrounds recruited me pretty hard. And after doing ZERO networking with another, I threw in my resume at the last second and got on their closed list.

My perception is that people at non-profits get to do more "big-picture" stuff earlier on in their careers, and this is a good reason why they're marketable as MBAs. Is this true at all?

aaudetat wrote:

My background is nonprofit: a year of AmeriCorps*VISTA and then five years at a community development credit union.

Recruiters have liked my resume. I've gotten lots of GM recruiting emails, but also a bit of consulting. One of the top firms that is known for liking people with quirky backgrounds recruited me pretty hard. And after doing ZERO networking with another, I threw in my resume at the last second and got on their closed list.

I would say so. At 24 I was managing two programs, with direct reports (leading and training and supporting a team of over 60 - ok, most of them volunteers, but some paid staff and full-time interns too). I managed our budget, wrote grants, did reporting, marketing, hiring, firing, training, marketing, operations, IT, set strategy, and created partnerships, both local and national. You don't get paid a lot, but instead you get a lot of responsibility. I dug it. It was a bit of a downer to realize that my work world is actually going to shrink a lot now that I'm an (in-progress) MBA.

this is great post for many people with unusual backgrounds. I, like many here have an unusual background in that I have not had any formal job experience till now because all I have done is run my own small businesses. Coming from a small country, the small businesses are like really small but I am happy with the experiences that I have gathered. Now, I am also thinking of transitioning into consulting for a few years. Even I am a little anxious about what I am going to get in B school and how I am going to land that job in consulting but reading this thread has made me realise that there are quite a few like me here. Thankx for this thread and I hope we have more contributors here!!!